the lizards are out there

a very so-cal christmas eve

it’s jut not christmas till you have the tamales. i am not inclined towards those hard-working holiday traditions personally, but i am fortunate enough to work with a lady who is, & she brought in these heavenly tamales. just spicy enough to really wake up the holiday spirit, & good solid food to fuel the last minute shopping this afternoon. i have nothing but admiration for people who make staggering amounts of tamales as a christmas tradition – i believe she mentioned forty POUNDS of masa? however i imagine it is a task undertaken with much love & warmth & sense of family history & tradition, enough to keep you inspired during the couple of days it takes to make these things.

my daughter loves to bake, well, she did when she lived with me, but now that she’s on her own & can’t just leave the mess, that has taken some of the baking obsession out of her.

i may not participate in traditional holiday baking or cooking excesses involving hours or days in a hot kitchen, but i don’t see that as a bad thing. somebody has to eat this stuff, you know, the people making it cannot eat it all. i have my place in the universe, humbly & gratefully admiring all this hard work, & praising it’s wonderfulness as i eat as much of it as i can manage. i know i’ll probably gain a few pounds, but it’s a sacrifice i’m willing to make.

i have an hour left of work, if you could call what i’m doing working: eating, drinking eggnog, blogging, bs-ing with coworkers, things of that nature. i love my job, have i mentioned that? i’m also feeling a nice holiday glow, finally. must be the tamales.